Hey guys!
I just got the first season of Hey Arnold and have been on a craze for it ever since. Therefore, I present to you my first Hey Arnold story. Woot!
"We Are The Greatest Generation" is about the characters from Hey Arnold living in the 1940's. Our friends are going to be living in the Unites States during the end of the Great Depression and through World War II.
WARNING: I want this story to be as historically accurate as possible and unfortunately, our world's history is filled with many injustices. The characters in this story are going to be dealing with discrimination not only in race, but in nationality and religion, as well as dealing with war and death. So please don't leave comments about how I'm awful for including things that actually happened, or could have happened if these characters were somehow real. I am not racist or anti-Semitic. If I could change the past, I would. Also, I will not tolerate racist or anti-Semitic reviews. If you've got something to say about it, take your issues somewhere else. So there..
Serious moment over...anyway, I've also decided to name each of these chapters after a song from the 1940's. They either have similarities to the message or tone of each chapter. You can listen to all of them on youtube.
Chapter 1 is named after "Call It Stormy Monday" by T-Bone Walker. (1947)
Disclaimer: Hey Arnold, the characters, and a few of the lines in this chapter (you'll know which ones when you read them) belong to their respectful owners. I only own the plot and any original characters I come up with.
Positive and encouraging reviews are greatly appreciated...please no flames or bashing.
So here we go you guys...hope you like it.
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Chapter 1: Call It Stormy Monday
Pink was not normally a color that he, nor any boy his age for that matter, took much thought into, let alone dreamt about. Yet, there in his dream, he was surrounded by pink - the least manly color imaginable. Not that he was out to remind everyone of his masculinity every moment of every day, but if he had to choose a color to dream about, he wouldn't have chose pink. He would have chosen blue – now there's a color.
Even amidst his confusion, he seemed fascinated by this strange hue. It seemed warm and safe, but also new and exciting.
He soon became blinded by the pink as if it were a light, but he remained fearless because his previous feelings remained. He could no longer see himself or anything around him, and yet stayed as peaceful as before.
He then felt someone take his hands and brush their thumbs against them. He squint his eyes to try and see the person in front of him, but failed; the pink outshone everything. The person let go of his hands and he suddenly felt alone, but not for long because the person then embraced him.
Feeling a small hourglass body come in contact with his, he concluded that the figure was female. She placed her head on his shoulder and snuggled into the crook of his neck. He could feel her smile against his skin and smiled back, bringing her closer to him.
"Hey, Arnold!" a familiar voice rang in the mist of pink.
The girl tensed within his arms. He could feel her breathing and heart beat take off to fast speeds.
"Arnold!"
She was frightened and immediately broke the embrace, fleeing from his grasp. He tried to find her, but remained blinded.
Suddenly a white light surpassed the pink and he fell to the floor.
"Arnold! Come on Shortman! It's the first day of school!"
Arnold immediately woke to his grandpa, Phil, shaking his shoulder. "Ugh…" He pulled the covers over his head.
"Now, come on, Shortman," Grandpa said cheerfully, "This is the first day of the most important year of your high school career. You need to start it off right. Get dressed and ready. Pookie made a full spread for your big day."
As soon as his grandpa had closed his bedroom door, Arnold pulled the covers off of his body and swung his legs over his bed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He stood on the wooden floor and stretched, hearing his back pop in all the right places. Moaning in satisfaction, he proceeded to his chest of drawers where he found his usual attire, a white button up shirt and dark trousers with black suspenders. On his way to the kitchen, he grabbed his black fedora with the light blue stripe around the rim from the hook on the wall.
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"Is that you, Kimba?" Arnold heard his grandma, Gertie, in the kitchen. He chuckled at one of her many nicknames for him.
"Yeah, it's me Quana." He said as he took his place by his grandpa at the table.
His grandma put a plate of bacon and eggs in front of him saying, "You're going to need your strength today. This is the beginning of a new adventure for you, Kimba."
"Thanks Grandma", Arnold immediately dug into his breakfast.
"Whoa, slow down, Shortman," his grandpa tried to block his face from the occasional bit of flying egg, "What's the rush?"
Arnold stopped eating. "I just want to get to school early, Grandpa. Everyone's been working so it's been hard to see everybody over the summer."
Phil nodded and smiled, returning to his paper.
After Arnold was done eating, he rushed upstairs to get his books. Upon opening his door, he noticed a picture on his bedside table and sat down beside it. In the black wooden frame, was a black and white picture of a soldier hugging a nurse, both of them sporting big grins. The man was very tall with blonde hair like Arnold's and brown eyes while the woman was shorter than him with brown hair and green eyes, which Arnold inherited. The youth smiled at the similarity between his and the women's somewhat football shaped heads.
"Today's the first day of school," Arnold clasp his hands together, "I'm kind of nervous."
He looked down at the floor. His parents, Miles and Stella, had been gone for almost three years now. Near the end of 1938, his dad had gotten a letter from a friend, Leopold, that he had fought with in the Great War. In Poland, there was an earthquake that destroyed his small village and he asked Miles and Stella to help him rebuilt it. Miles, being a soldier, and Stella, being a nurse on the battlefront, had had their share of adventure. They had even stayed behind in Europe for a while after the war to work in different reconstruction missions throughout the continent.
They had left a few months after receiving the letter, right before Arnold started his freshman year of high school. Arnold could recall the day they left.
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Arnold and his grandparents stood on the front porch with Stella, as Miles loaded their suitcases into the taxi. He tried to fight back the tears as his mother hugged him, "We'll write to you every week," she whispered in his ear, "telling you all the adventures we go on."
She looked at him and brushed a lock of blonde hair out of his eyes, "Maybe when we get back, we'll plan our own adventure, ok?"
He smiled and nodded. His father approached them and hugged his parents then looked down at Arnold. He took off his fedora, black with a single blue stripe, and placed it on Arnold's head. The boy hadn't grown all the way yet, so the hat sunk over his eyebrows. He looked at his father with a puzzled expression, "Dad? This is your favorite hat."
"Well, you're going to be the man of the house while I'm away so you'll need a man's hat." Miles smiled at his son.
Any tear that Arnold tried to hold back pour from his bright green eyes. He hugged his father's waist and buried his head in his chest. Miles held him close and said "We'll be back before you know it, Son."
He gave Arnold a reassuring smile as Stella kissed her son's forehead. "We love you, Arnold." She said sweetly and with that they entered the taxi. They drove away and Arnold squeezed the rim of his hat, knowing that it had been on his father's head just moments ago.
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Three years later, Arnold was still the man of the house. They had kept their promise and wrote to him frequently, telling them of the people they helped and how they were considered heroes in the village. Things were worse than Leopold had told them and so they had to stay longer than they intended.
The last letter Arnold received was around the end of August in 1939. It told about how the villagers were worried about the new German leader and the rumors about him invading Poland. Then a few days later, on September 1, 1939, Arnold heard on the radio that Germany had invaded Poland. Of course, Arnold was frantic and demanded to his grandparents that they go rescue his parents; however, they couldn't afford to go halfway across the world. So, they had to resort to waiting for the next letter.
And today, they still wait, hoping for any sign that they're still alive. Arnold is completely convinced that they're still out there, probably been in and out of Nazi prisons and freeing people from the hands of Adolf Hitler. Somehow he was going to go over there and help them, so they could have could have their own adventure together.
So until they were reunited, Arnold would sometimes talk to his parent's picture, as if they could hear him in Europe. "So I've decided what I'm going to do," Arnold looked up at the picture of his smiling parents, "I'm going to work all this year and next year, and save my money. If you guys are not back by the summer after next, I'm going to Poland and I'm going to find you."
He instantly imagined his mother objecting, "Don't worry; I'm going to college when I get back. I don't know what I'm going to study anyway and this plan will give me more time to decide."
Arnold could see his mother sighing and agreeing, while his father laughed. Whenever they had returned to the States after the Great War, they began saving money for their son's college account and because it was not stored in a bank, it wasn't lost in the Depression. It remained in their room on the top shelf in their closet. His grandparents wouldn't let him use it the first time he wanted to go to Poland, claiming that his parents saved that money for college and college only.
"Anyway," Arnold grabbed his books and his jacket, "I've got to get going. See you after school."
He reached for the doorknob, but turned back around slowly. "I love you."
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Arnold opened the front door of his grandparent's plantation house. It was white with blue shudders and once belonged to Helmers, who had lost almost all of their money in the Depression. Phil and Gertie, who never trusted banks and didn't lose any money when the Stock Market crashed, had bought it from them at full price, even though the Helmers were trying to sell it for a fourth of that amount. The Shortman's kindness allowed the Helmers to survive the last decade
The Helmer plantation consisted of the big house and a few arches filled with fields, woods and a grove of cherry trees. Normally, the land was beautiful, but today was not the case. Arnold opened the door to find it pouring outside.
"Great." Arnold mumbled and went back inside.
"Forgetting something, Shortman?" His grandpa stood at the kitchen door with an umbrella.
"Thanks, Grandpa." He took the umbrella and hurried out the door.
"Have a good day, Arnold and don't forget to not eat the raspberries!" He called after him.
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"Thank God it's not windy." Arnold pulled is coat closer to his body as he walked down the street toward his school. It wasn't that far from his house so there was no point in driving there. He saw Hillwood High coming up and starting walking faster.
He reached front steps and was about to climb up when he glanced to the side and noticed a blur of pink within the surrounding grey environment. Once the blur got closer, he realized that it was a girl in a pink dress. She, unlike him, had no umbrella and was soaked. Her blonde hair stuck to her shoulders and neck and she wrapped her arms around herself. She seemed very sad as she looked up at Hillwood High from the bottom of the stairs. The girl didn't seem to notice Arnold standing there.
Being the gentleman that he was, he approached the girl from behind and placed his umbrella over her. She seemed confused at first, wondering why it had suddenly stopped raining on her. Turning around, she noticed Arnold and her eyes grew wide.
Arnold couldn't breathe for a few seconds.
She was beautiful. Her eyes were a sapphire blue and seemed to come to life whenever she saw him. Arnold had never seen her before and concluded that she must be new.
Without thinking, he said, "Hi, nice bow"
She looked up at the pink bow in her hair. "Huh?"
Once again, his mouth took over. "I like your bow because it's pink like your dress."
Arnold internally kicked himself. "Did I just say that? She probably thinks I'm an idiot! What is wrong with me?"
The girl gave him a small smile and said, "Thank you."
Because Arnold's umbrella was quite small, they were a lot closer than two people who just met each other normally would be. They suddenly noticed their current closeness and blushed, looking away so the other wouldn't see.
"Um….let's go inside." Arnold suggested.
"Ok" The girl agreed.
They walked together up the stairs, still remaining close so they wouldn't get wet. Once inside, they separated to a more friendly distance, brushing the water off their clothes. The boy extended his hand, "I'm Arnold."
She took his hand. "Helga."
He felt his heart skip a beat. "Are you new?"
"Yes, I just moved here from Boston."
"I see." Arnold noticed that their hands were still together and released her. He rubbed the back of his neck. She smiled at his nervousness.
Suddenly, he heard familiar voices behind him. "Hey,Arnold!"
Looking behind him, he spotted Harold, Stinky, and Sid down the hall. "Come over here, Arnold!" Harold yelled.
"Listen," Helga said, making Arnold turn to face her, "I've got to go to the office to get my schedule. Can you tell me where it is?"
"Sure it's right over there, two doors down." Arnold pointed.
"Thanks, Arnold," she walked away, "I'll see you around, ok?"
"Ok." He smiled, and then thought to himself. "Wait!"
Helga turned around quickly. "Yes?"
"Um…do you want to eat with me and my friends at lunch," He rubbed the back of his neck again, "You know, since you're new and all."
She smiled at him, "I'd love to."
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Like it? New spin on things right? Haha.
REVIEW =)
